[Nfbf-l] State School

[Mark Tardif]

I'm not sure we can stereotype people who attended schools for the blind and 
type cast them like that.  I attended a school for the blind and I lived 
with a friend who was mainstreamed.  Guess what, I think she was much less 
likely to want to join the real world, at times I got the sense she wanted 
to live in a "blind ghetto."  Public schooling can be brutal on a lot of 
kids, and if you are at all different, forget it.  I also had a boss once 
who was also blind and we worked together in the early eighties.  He thought 
that mainstreaming sounded good on paper, but he had had a chance to observe 
and talk to some of these people who were mainstreamed, and was 
disappointed.  He said they came across as cynical. apathetic, etc.  So, 
just one man's opinion, it appears to be different for different children. 
Also, I would say that the NFB influence, as shown by centers like Louisiana 
and Colorado, seems to try to emphasize that we cannot expect the world to 
provide us extra privileges that we need to adapt to it.  So I don't know 
what happened at Daytona, and anyone may enlighten me, but I doubt it was 
the influence of the NFB that caused it to go downhill.

Mark Tardif
Welcome to my planet
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kirk" <kvharmon54 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Florida Internet Mailing List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2011 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] State School


> Joann, I so agree with you on this topic! I, too, have seen many blind
> individuals that act so childlike compared to others and have wondered 
> why.
> Why some are always figitting, and others are not. I was told it was due 
> to
> their parents allowing them to do what they wished without letting them
> know it is not polite to rock or figit all the time in their seets,etc. I
> was also told it was because they were placed in their playpens for hours 
> to
> keep them safe and they would get extremely bored so they developed habits
> that were very distracting to others in a room and such. These behaviors 
> are
> what the majority of our population (sighted) see and assume we are not
> prepared to be on an even  keel with them and until we try and feel
> comfortable about talking about these foibles with some of usletting them
> know this behavior is not acceptable and quite rude as well, we will have
> diminished and negative attention brought our way. Just one man's opinion 
> is
> all! Kirk
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Joanne" <jdking09 at earthlink.net>
> To: <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2011 12:21 PM
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] State School
>
>
> I know first hand what a shambles the Daytona School became after it was
> influenced by NFB's  theory of teaching independents to the blind.   If I
> were
> in charge  I would first have every student believe in their dignity. 
> Then
> I
> would teach them to believe  that they can achieve anything if they really
> want
> to.  and the other important thing is to join society without thinking 
> that
> they
> need  special treatment.  You can't burn the candle at both ends.  And 
> that
> is
> what they had done at the center.  That's why the school is not on track.
> The people that I have known before NFB's influence had a better chance of
> learning all this.  After that forget it.
> I personally grew up in public and private schools and learned my own
> independents because I wanted to.  I agree that one can always pick out a
> blind
> student who was educated at a school for the blind including one like
> Daytona.
> They act like a child..
> So whether it is NFB or ACB or anything else.  A blind person can be so
> called
> Normal if treated like they are normal.
> We are a very small percentage of society.  Therefore, it is us, who needs
> to
> comply with the majority.
> Please pass this on to the NFB and the ACB and any other Organizations who
> feel
> that special privileges is the only way to go.  I guess what I am trying 
> to
> say
> is stop degrading us.
>
>
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